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B Raynard

Publications and source records attributed to B Raynard.

28 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

[Standards, Options and Recommendations (SOR) for the use of appetite stimulants in oncology. Work group. Federation of the French Cancer Centres (FNCLCC)].

CONTEXT: The "Standards, Options and Recommendations" (SOR) project, started in 1993, is a collaboration between the Federation of the French Cancer Centres (FNCLCC), the 20 French Cancer Centres and specialists from French Public Universities, General Hospitals and Private Clinics. The main objective is the development of clinical practice guidelines to improve the quality of health care and outcome for cancer patients. The methodology is based on literature review and critical appraisal by a multidisciplinary group of experts, with feedback from specialists in cancer care delivery. OBJECTIVES: To develop clinical practice guidelines according to the definitions of the Standards, Options and Recommendations project for the use of appetite stimulants in oncology. METHODS: Data were identified by searching Medline and the personal reference lists of members of the expert groups. Once the guidelines were defined, the document was submitted for review to 55 independent reviewers, and to the medical committees of the 20 French Cancer Centres. RESULTS: The main recommendations for the use of appetite stimulants in oncology are: 1) Corticosteroids and the synthetic progestogens (megestrol acetate and medroxyprogesterone acetate) are appetite stimulants. 2) They can be useful in managing anorexia and weight loss in cancer patients, especially in the palliative setting, despite the potential side-effects of these agents. 3) The most effective way of using these drugs is not known. Inclusion in clinical trials is recommended. 4) Cyproheptadine, metoclopramide, nandrolone and pentoxif line should not be used outside prospective clinical trials. 5) Hydrazine sulfate should not be used.

Adrenal Cortex Hormones↗

[Is prevention of upper digestive system hemorrhage in intensive care necessary?].

Mucosal lesions are observed in 40 to 100% of critically ill patients. They are mainly due to gastric acid hypersecretion, biliary reflux, a decrease in mucosal defences, and digestive mucosal ischaemia. Acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding in intensive care unit (ICU) patients may occur, and if severe is associated with increased mortality and hospitalization costs. However, progress in the ICU management of patients, and especially in nutritional support, probably explains the low incidence of stress-induced gastrointestinal bleeding. Preventive strategies are indicated in high risk patients, i.e. when the risk of gastrointestinal bleeding is above 1%. Risk factors are not well defined presently, and probably include defective haemostasis and/or respiratory failure requiring prolonged ventilation assistance. Gastric hypersecretion can be well controlled with anti-H2 agents and sucralfate; these treatments improve the rate of complications but do not reduce overmortality related to gastrointestinal bleeding. Other drugs such as omeprazole are under investigation but due to insufficient clinical data and excessive cost, omeprazole cannot be recommended for this use. In addition, enteral nutritional support per se may efficiently prevent stress ulcers. Eradication of Helicobacter pylori has never been evaluated in this context. The selection of drugs today depends not only on efficacy and on costs, but also on possible adverse effects such as the putative risk of nosocomial pneumonia due to gastric bacterial overgrowth. Finally, only careful medico-economic evaluations of stress ulcer prophylaxis in ICUs will permit the implementation of valuable practice guidelines.

Acute Disease↗

Diagnosis of catheter-related bacteraemia: a prospective comparison of the time to positivity of hub-blood versus peripheral-blood cultures.

BACKGROUND: A method of diagnosing catheter-related infection (CRI) without removing the catheter would be useful. An earlier positivity of central compared with peripheral venous-blood cultures may be associated with catheter-related bacteraemia. We evaluated prospectively the differential time to positivity (DTP) of paired blood cultures drawn simultaneously via the catheter hub and from a peripheral venous site. METHODS: Over a 14-month period in an intensive-care unit of a cancer referral centre, simultaneous hub-blood and peripheral-blood cultures (a mean of two per patient) were obtained from patients with a suspected CRI. According to clinical criteria and quantitative culture of the catheter tip, cases were classified as CRI or sepsis of other origin. At least one pair of hub-blood and peripheral-blood cultures was obtained within 48 h before catheter removal, and we recorded the DTP between hub-blood and peripheral-blood cultures with an automatic device for detection of blood culture positivity. FINDINGS: We analysed 93 catheters removed because of suspicion of CRI. In 28 episodes, the same micro-organisms were found in both hub-blood and peripheral-blood cultures. A diagnosis of definite bacteraemic CRI was made in 16 of the 17 patients in whom a positive hub-blood culture was detected at least 2 hours earlier than peripheral-blood culture. About half (9/17) of these episodes occurred in long-term (>30 days) devices. CRI was excluded in ten of the 11 patients with a DTP lower than 2 h. The DTP of paired blood cultures was significantly greater in patients with CRI than in others (p<10(-4)). A cut-off DTP value of 120 min had 91% specificity and 94% sensitivity for the diagnosis of CRI. Three of 17 episodes with only hub-blood culture positive were associated with CRI. INTERPRETATION: This prospective study suggests that measurement of the differential time to positivity between hub-blood and peripheral-blood cultures is a simple and reliable tool for in-situ diagnosis of catheter-related sepsis in cancer patients. Further studies are needed to confirm these data for short-term catheters.

Bacteremia↗

[Treatment of peritoneal carcinomatosis using complete excision and intraperitoneal chemohyperthermia. A phase I-II study defining the best technical procedures].

OBJECTIVES: The complete or quasi complete resection of peritoneal carcinomatosis (PC) followed with IPCH is potentially able to cure some patients with a disease confined to the peritoneum. The aim of this prospective phase I-II study was to elaborate an efficient IPCH procedure with a good thermal homogeneity and a good spatial diffusion, which should be reproductible (and so standardizable and exportable), and to appreciate its tolerance and its carcinologic impact. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Seven IPCH procedures were successively tested in 32 patients (for a total of 35 IPCH); each of these were tested in at least four patients before being modified for technical or tolerance reason. Five of them were followed with an immediate postoperative intraperitoneal chemotherapy (IPIC) lasting four days. Thermal homogeneity was measured with six thermal probes situated in different places inside the abdominal cavity. Spatial diffusion was studied in the last patients by adding methylene blue in the IPCH liquid. The precise extent of the PC was reported, for each intra-abdominal region, and scored with a peritoneal index (ranging from 1 to 39). The mean follow-up was 23.85 months for the series. RESULTS: Procedures with the closure of the abdomen were not efficient: thermal homogeneity was almost satisfactory when only the skin was closed, but these 'closed' procedures did not permit the treatment of all the risky surfaces. The peritoneal cavity 'expander' did not permit the treatment of the parietal wound, and an undetermined amount of the perfusion oozed out at its periphery. The open technique by tracking the skin upwards was the best one. Death occurred in three patients (9.4%), and complications occurred in 24 patients (75%) during the postoperative course. Intra-abdominal complications were significantly correlated (P = 0.02) with the peritoneal index (scoring the extent of the PC). The two year survival rate was 60%, and PC did not recur in 50% of the patients. CONCLUSION: An efficient and reproducible procedure for IPCH was defined: an open procedure with an upwards traction of the skin. The post-IPCH IPIC was abandoned because it did not treat all the risky peritoneal surfaces. Patients with an extended PC and with extraperitoneal localization did not seem to have benefited from this therapeutic approach. Progress is needed in the chemotherapeutical procedure and indications must be more finely defined.

Adolescent↗

What strategy should be used for diagnosis of hepatitis C virus infection in clinical laboratories?

The aim of this study was to determine a cost-effective strategy for the diagnosis of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in clinical laboratories. Anti-HCV antibodies were sought in 3,014 consecutive unselected samples with two different enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA). An immunoblot-based confirmatory assay (RIBA3.0) was performed in the samples with at least one ELISA positive or weakly positive. HCV RNA was evaluated using HCV polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in the samples with a weakly positive ELISA, discrepant results of the two ELISAs, or an indeterminate RIBA3.0 pattern. The two ELISAs gave concordant results in 2,957 (98.1%) of the 3,014 samples (negative in 87.9%, positive in 11.8%, and weakly positive in 0.3%), and discrepant results in 57 (1.9%). RIBA3.0 was positive in 338 of the 350 ELISA-positive samples (96.6%) and indeterminate in 12. Six of them were PCR-positive. Among the 8 weakly positive samples, 1 was RIBA3.0-positive, 6 were RIBA3.0-indeterminate, and 1 was RIBA3.0-negative; all were PCR-negative. Among the 57 samples with discrepant ELISA results, 4 were RIBA3.0-positive (none were PCR-positive), 22 were RIBA3.0-indeterminate (1 was PCR-positive), and 31 were RIBA3.0-negative (6 were PCR-positive). In these cases, the clinical context and PCR detection of HCV RNA allowed for definitive classification. In conclusion, one single ELISA determination is necessary for diagnosis of HCV infection in clinical laboratories, and confirmation of positive or weakly positive ELISAs with immunoblot-based confirmatory assays is no longer needed. HCV-RNA detection by PCR helps to resolve weakly positive or negative ELISA results when the clinical context is compatible with hepatitis C.

Antibodies, Viral↗

[Gastroduodenal ulcers in intensive care units].

In intensive care units, gastroduodenal ulcers may occur in a context of aggression or multiple organ failure or result from iatrogenic causes. Thus it is difficult to construct a unique theory of pathogenesis and consequently define a precise therapeutic target. The mechanisms which disrupt the protective digestive mucosa occur as the consequences of "intensive care stress". Factors favoring the development of these stress lesions of the gastroduodenal mucosa include multiple trauma, surgery, extensive burns, acute renal failure, acute respiratory failure, shock or severe infection. These factors should be distinguished from the recently defined risk factors for hemorrhage: defective hemostasis, respiratory failure requiring prolonged ventilation assistance. The first objective in preventing stress bleeding in the intensive care unit is thus to correct these favoring factors. The only target for drug prophylaxy is gastric oversecretion which can be well controlled with anti-H2 agents but also with sucralfate. These often expensive treatments improve the rate of complications but do not decrease overmortality related to this complication. Curative treatment is difficult in these severely ill patients. It is thus necessary to define high-risk patients who could benefit significantly from these treatments.

Critical Care↗

[Portal vein thrombosis and rupture of the esophagus secondary to a barotrauma].

Portal vein thrombosis complicating a trauma is rare. We report a case of portal vein thrombosis associated with esophageal rupture after a blast injury due to the explosion of a pressurized nitrogen bottle. Portal vein thrombosis was discovered during oesophageal reconstruction, 70 days after the initial injury. A favorable outcome was observed.

Adult↗